Parliament President Martin Schulz yesterday (14 March) called on EU heads of state to punish Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán with sanctions last used to reprimand Austrian far-right leader Jörg Haider, as a row over changes to Hungary's constitution dominated the beginnings of a summit of heads of state in Brussels.

On March 11, Orbán's ruling centre-right Fidesz party used its unprecedented two-thirds parliamentary majority to pass constitutional laws that critics say limit citizens' freedoms.

Decisions of the country's top Constitutional Court made before the new constitution entered into force in 2012 will no longer be valid, discarding an important body of law often used as reference before.

Restrictive new regulations may now appear in higher education, homelessness, electoral law and family law, critics fear.